Independence Day: Mass Contact
by D'terran
Summary: Over 150 years after the War of 1996, the United Systems Alliance now has to face the wider galaxy with fewer ships, better tech, and a fear of alien species caused by a war that united the world against a very real alien threat. Now they have new troubles on the horizon...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 01

Captain Lawrence DeVrill moved slowly through the halls of his destroyer, the _USV Northern Drift_ , as he siped at his small cup of coffee. His ship was joined by one other USMCN Abrams class heavy destroyer, the _USV Hero's Veil_ , and four smaller Dunkirk class frigates in the task of shifting another,currently dormant, Mass Relay that was found near one of the newer colonies to have been made, Shanxi. While it was a slow-going job, it was important nonetheless as these devices were deemed very dangerous and should be moved away from any United Systems Alliance colony at all costs. Once moved, an Alliance science vessel traveling with the small task force, the _USSV Levinson_ , would activate the relay and send a probe through to reconnoiter the area surrounding the relay theirs connected to.

The man of forty-two had a growing sense of discomfort has he watched the towing progress finish out a nearby port-hole, and the relay activate. DeVrill felt as though the entire universe was about to shift, and that the Military Command as well as the Alliance didn't know exactly what to do if it did. Sighing, he took one more sip of his lukewarm coffee before turning about to walk towards the CIC to find out what the probe was sending back.

Unknown to him for the moment, was that his gut feeling was about to ring true.

 **(Line Break)**

On patrol near one of the many dormant Mass Relays that could be found around Citadel Space, a fleet of Turian vessels watch and listen for any possible threats. A general sense of boredom from inaction could be felt around the fleet. The only action they had encountered within the last few months was two separate small smuggling vessels and a civilian craft that had been damaged near an asteroid field.

Onboard the Turian flag vessel, one of the two cruisers in the task force, the operator in charge of the scanners was lazily watching his terminal for any small pirate vessels or smuggling vessels passing through the area when all of a sudden his scanners began screaming, drawing the notice of both the officer and his C/O, Secutor Didinius. They were both shocked to realize that the relay designated 315 was activating.

"Is this accurate?" Secutor asked. The younger officer ran multiple systems diagnostics to see if there were any faults in the systems. He quickly had an answer for his superior.

"Negative, sir. The sensors are working perfectly. Someone is activating a relay that 315 connects to, Relay 314. Sir, I'm detecting a small device coming through the relay," the young officer states.

External cameras began viewing the small device and the sensor operator began making sweeps of the device.

"Is that device a probe of some kind?" Secutor questioned.

"Yes, sir. It looks like it was sent to study this side of the relay system. Sir, I'm detecting a buildup of energy on the device!" Both officers kept their eyes glued to external viewing cameras as they watched the device self-destruct in a small, nuclear fireball. "Sir, the device just destroyed itself with a nuclear weapon of some kind. It was completely vaporized."

Secutor stood still his mind reeling. A new species was opening Mass Relays, a crime in all of Citadel space, and they also used nuclear weapons, which is also against Citadel law. His small hesitation ended with a new order.

"Open communications with the rest of the fleet. Tell them that we are going to pass through the relay and make sure this ignorant species is brought to justice for their crimes against the Citadel." The order was passed along and in just a few minutes, all vessels were assembled in a loose formation, and moved towards the Mass Relay. Several moments later, the relay would launch those same vessels at FTL speeds to their new targets.

 **(Line Break)**

"Telemetry from the probe is coming through now, Sir," a young ensign states. Captain DeVrill nods his head and waits to hear the preliminary reports. Not even a minute later, that same ensign screamed out something that no human has wanted to hear for over 150 years. "Unidentified contacts! I repeat, unidentified contacts on the other side of the relay!"

Everyone was frozen on the deck, even Captain DeVrill. Not a single alien contact had been found since the War of 1996. Fear spread through DeVrill's body faster than adrenaline, but he was quicker with putting it down.

"Prepare First-Contact package, destroy the probe, tell the _Levinson_ to discontinue their research and to fall back behind us," he looked to his communications officer. "Sound _General Quarters_ throughout the fleet." The crew on the deck quickly go to work all while an alarm was blaring.

" _GENERAL QUARTERS! GENERAL QUARTERS! ALL HANDS, MAN YOUR BATTLESTATIONS!_ " DeVrill looked upon his crew with pride as they worked their stations. He could see the underlying fear in all of them, but they pushed it aside to do the jobs they were trained to do. He just hoped that training held. Several minutes later he would get the chance to test his crew and the crews of the small task force.

"Sir, I'm detecting a small force of ships coming through the relay. Two destroyer analogues, four frigate analogues, and seven smaller class of vessels. They are running with defenses engaged and weapons hot!" the ensign readsd out.

"Engage shields but do not activate weapons just yet. Let's try and be diplomatic about this. Comms, send over the FC Package on every frequency. Even try it on radio, hell even morse code to try and get it through if they can possibly understand that. Let's hope they are far more diplomatic than they appear to be."

 **(Line Break)**

"Dropping out of FTL now, Sir. I'm detecting two cruiser class, five destroyer class vessels, and a single frigate class vessel. Sir, their power readings are massive. The destroyers are putting out more power than a dreadnought!" the scanner operator reports to Didinius. Before he could give out an order, his communications officer spoke up.

"They are broadcasting something over all frequencies. Looks like a First-Contact Package. Should we respond?" the young Turian asked. The sensor operator spoke up before Secutor could respond, however.

"They have engaged barriers, but their weapons are still offline, Sir."

"Don't bother with their communication. They have broken several Citadel laws and are ignorant to the use of nuclear weapons and the reactivation of Mass Relays. We have to teach them a lesson. Target the lead destroyer first. We'll move through their ranks and then hit that frigate and the two cruisers. Fire at will," Secutor ordered.

Across the Turian fleet, Accelerator rounds were fired and blazed their way to the USMCN vessels.

 **(Line Break)**

"Incoming fire! All hands brace for impact!" Lawrence DeVrill screamed out to his crew. A slight shaking signified the impact of the aliens' weapon fire. "Status?"

"Minimal damage across the board, sir. All ships signify that their shields took the hits in stride. Sir, the alien fleet is changing their tactics. They are all pointing their guns at the same target, the _USV Disciple_!" one of the command staff reported.

"Have the frigate captains get in close and use their Onagers on the smaller vessels, use MAC's on the frigates if they can. Have the _USV Hero's Veil_ join us in using Plasma lances against the destroyers! Fire at will!" DeVrill felt his ship shudder as the powerful Plasma Lance fired off alongside the lance of the Veil. He watched as the blasts passed clean through one of the two enemy destroyers with ease.

Sadly, the lances were fired too late as the alien ships were able to focus all their fire on the _Disciple_ before the alien destroyer went up in flames. The shields of the targeted frigate held as the first few accelerator rounds hit, but the larger rounds from the alien destroyers drained the shields, letting the remaining rounds hit the armor. Luckily, the antimatter reactors weren't hit, but DeVrill could see a lot of the ship's personnel float dead in space alongside their crippled mothership.

DeVrill's blood boiled at the sight. He was not going to lose any more men this day.

"All vessels, fire everything you have bar nuclear and antimatter ordinance. Teach these clowns a lesson they won't soon forget!" Across his fleet, DeVrill watched with pride as his fleet engaged the enemy force at knife-fight ranges, and though they were outnumbered a bit, the Alliance warships were making quick work of the alien forces. Through the carnage, DeVrill noticed the other destroyer was holding station to the rear of the alien force, firing off its main weapon at Alliance frigates that aren't too close to target.

"That looks like their command vessel. Tactical, I am giving the ok for the launch of a cold fusion warhead. Fire it directly to the rear of that destroyer and detonate it remotely. Hopefully the EMP effect will knock out it's electronic systems. I want boarding parties ready to go as soon as that ship goes dark," he ordered. " _All vessels, this is DeVrill. Prepare for Thundershock!_ " DeVrill yelled over the comms.

Across the Alliance fleet, crews readied for _Thundershock_ , which was the codename for the detonation of nuclear ordinance near friendly targets. As soon as they all gave a green light for ready, the _Northern Drift_ launched the missile. The alien forces opened up with anti-air weapons to try and destroy it, but the missile was moving too fast for the targeting systems to get a solid lock.

The Turians watched in fear as the missile detonated just to the rear of their lead vessel, and the resulting EMP shut down everything aboard the Turian cruiser. Small shuttles were then launched from the _Drift_ to begin boarding actions. The remaining few Turian captains were horrified at the loss of so many of ships and the detonation of one of the most powerful nuclear devices they had ever seen. The individual captains worked together for a fighting retreat. Only two Turian frigates and one destroyer actually managed to escape through the relay.

DeVrill watched the retreating vessels as they passed through the relay. Then he turned his attention to what was left on the battlefield. Bar a few disabled alien vessels firing off their AA weapons in a futile attempt to do some damage, there was only the mopup of the _USV Disciple_ as well as the capture of the alien destroyer and any other vessels that still had life signs aboard them.

"Get me a line to Sgt. Whittaker," he ordered.

"Yes, sir!" A moment later a grizzly voice could be heard over the intercoms of the CIC.

" _This is Whittaker, go ahead!_ " the sergeant exclaimed, munitions could be heard firing through the comms.

"Whittaker, this is DeVrill. How is the boarding action going?"

" _We have managed to take over most of the ship but they are putting up a real good fight when it comes to, what we believe to be, the CIC and Engineering sections of the ship. We have prisoners and are stowing them in the Mess Hall. We could use some reinforcements if you have them,_ " Whittaker reported.

"Alright, I'll have the _Veil_ send over what they can spare but we are capturing other vessels as well out here, so it may take a while to get you those reinforcements."

" _Roger that. We'll do what we can. Whittaker out._ " With that the comms went silent as the crew and their commanding officer, took in what had just occurred. Then DeVrill decided to make one more call.

"Comms, get me Rear Admiral Hiller."

 **(Line Break)**

Secutor Didinius was beyond horrified at what occurred. Not only did the aliens have energy weapons, but their ships were strong enough to take everything his task force could give and more. Basically, his task force was curb-stomped, and the numerous alien boarding parties roaming about his ship was just kicking them while they were down. While he did manage to damage one of their ships, it was ultimately worthless when it came to the full battle. Now he had to fight for his life aboard his very own ship.

He and the remainder of his bridge crew had sealed the blast doors to the room and had their rifles trained on the doorway, ready for when it was to be breached. Secutor could hear the aliens screaming out in their foreign language through the door, most likely orders to find a way through. Several minutes passed and the doors screeched open and every armed Turian opened fire. After everyone began reloading, several small items were thrown into the room from the hall.

Before Secutor could scream out for everyone to take cover, the flashbang grenades had blinded him and deafened his ears. He could feel he was rolling on his side in pain before being pulled up by what he could tell wasn't a member of his crew. That meant that the aliens had managed to take his command staff out and they now had control of his ship, as far as he knew. While there was still fighting to take engineering, a similar tactic would render the Turians in there incapacitated and give the aliens the opportunity to rush in and take control.

 **(Line Break)**

"Early reports have the number of dead from the _Disciple_ being over 120 personnel. Possibly more as the ships communications systems went offline when they were hit, and with all the boarding actions, we haven't been able to send over a team to offer medical assistance. Though I do have reports that we have managed to take full control of, what we believed to be their flag vessel, so I will have any spare teams be moved to offer aid to the crew of the _Disciple_. Three enemy vessels managed to get through the relay before we could disable them. We are most likely going to see a larger force arrive within the next few weeks, sir," DeVrill reported to Rear Admiral Dylan Hiller Jr., the grandson of one of the heroes from the War of '96. The darker skinned man held a thoughtful look for a moment.

" _And you are sure that they didn't offer any sort of communication in response to yours?_ " he asked.

"As I stated, sir, we tried everything from modern communications systems to old-style radio and even morse code. While I know that is ridiculous, sir, I decided to be thorough and try not to screw this up," DeVrill responded. His shoulders slumped before speaking again. "Sadly I failed in that regard and now the majority of the _Disciple's_ crew is dead because of it."

" _Don't beat yourself up about it, son. If what you say is true to what occurred, you did everything beyond correct. This new alien threat is at fault for the losses, and they hold that alone. Now, do you believe these beings to be Protheans? I think we can agree they definitely aren't Locusts._ "

"No, sir. I don't believe they are. The technology and ships just don't add up to what the Protheans had. If I may, sir, I have noticed something else."

" _What is it?_ "

"Sir, both the ancient Protheans and this new species have something in common. The tech that they both used looks like a reverse-engineered variant of the Mass Relays. I don't think the Protheans, nor this new species, built the Mass Relays at all, sir. I think the relays are older than we think," DeVrill explained. Again, the Admiral looked thoughtful.

" _I'll see what the higher-ups think about your theory. But first we have to prepare for a possible alien counter-attack. I'm on my way with my fleet and we'll be picking up several more_ Pearl-Harbor _class defensive stations to deploy over Shanxi. We'll be arriving within the next few hours to help with clean-up and to set up some preliminary defenses around the relay. Hiller out._ " The Rear Admiral gave a salute that DeVrill reciprocated before the transmission was ended.

As his crew ran about the CIC, DeVrill looked through the monitors to see the stars beyond the battlefield. He was trying to get one last good moment of peace before all hell broke loose over Shanxi.

 _ **Author's Note: This is my first chapter of a new series that had intrigued me for quite a while now. A codex for what has led up to these events can be found in my profile as well as my Stargate: Enterprise story if you are interested in a stargate/star trek crossover story. I'll be giving a notification about this first chapter on the codex as well as updating the codex with several new pieces of information. Don't forget to leave comments to help me improve this story. Thank you! - D'terran**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 02**

While patrolling the outermost reaches of Council space, it is not uncommon for ships to come under attack from pirate or slaver vessels. Sometimes, the criminals get lucky and mange to take some supplies or new slaves, but most of the time, they are sent packing by Turian warships and only a few damaged ships are the result.

Imagine the surprise of the Turian Hierarchy when they are informed of a race that had activated a dormant Mass Relay, detonated a nuclear device, and managed to route what is supposed to be the most powerful military force in the galaxy. The use of energy weapons and advanced shielding while finding minimal amounts of eezo on those vessels has also piqued the interest of the Hierarchy's higher leadership. The information is kept from the eyes of Councilor Sparatus and the rest of the Council as stealth probes are then launched through relay 315 to 314 to do some recon on the new species.

 **(Line Break)**

The day after the engagement at the Shanxi relay was a busy one for the USMCN as heavier defenses were placed all around the colony and relay. Pearl Harbor class defensive stations were placed in equidistant intervals around the planet to allow maximum coverage. ('So grown up' for those of you that watched a particular anniversary episode of a certain Sci-Fi) A nuclear mine field was being built up near the relay to catch any unwanted visitors, and it didn't take long for them to do their job.

One day after the skirmish at the Shanxi relay, after the first dozen mines had been placed, a series of probes came through the relay, presumably from the alien species. One crashed right into one of the mines, destroying both it and the majority of the other probes. The two remaining probes managed to pass through the chaos as the nuclear detonation had scrambled the sensors of the few Alliance vessels near the relay. The two probes had managed to find Shanxi and report their findings before they were captured by USMCN forces.

Using the small amount of data they were able to gather, the Turians began a secret buildup of forces. Luckily, there was little pirate activity near relay 315, so a great many ships were able to amass for a fight. It took longer to get the ground forces rounded up for an invasion and to make sure all these ships would fly under the radar of the Council. In a standard Earth-week, the Turians were ready to bring the young, inexperienced race to justice.

Little did they know of the horrors of war that had been prepared for them.

 **(Line Break) One day after the probe incident…**

"So what have we managed to learn?" Rear Admiral Dylan Hiller asked of his resident scientist onboard the _USV Iron Bottom Sound_ , one of the 60+ Yamato class dreadnoughts that the USMCN had at their disposal, Dr. Earl Langley.

"We have been able to gather small amounts of data. Both from their side and our side of the relays. Their relay is in an inhospitable star system that has quite a bit of mining potential if one is smart about it. They are amassing a fleet on the other side with the ships that had escaped the skirmish two days ago joining with that fleet. As of now, they have fielded, what we would call in our naval terms, three battleships, eighteen destroyers, twenty-seven frigates, and ninety-two corvettes. We know that eezo limits the sizes of vessels and that we don't have such limitations, but this new species does. To them, they have three dreadnoughts, eighteen cruisers, twenty-seven destroyers, and ninety-two frigates. We have also found numerous smaller vessels that appear to be troop transport vessels. These numbers are expected to rise, sir," the doctor responded.

"Thank you doctor. Anything else?"

"Yes, sir. We believe that these vessels rely entirely on technology reverse engineered from the mass relays or the Protheans. We know the Protheans had a galaxy spanning empire, so it is possible that other technology caches are spread throughout the galaxy. We also have a report on the enemy weapon systems. They use small lasers, known to them as GUARDIAN lasers, to act as anti-air defenses. These lasers were fairly effective against missiles but our fighters' shield systems would protect them from harm unless they were focused on by a good number of these lasers each.

They use a variety of ship-to-ship cannons ranging from single to double barrel placed on rotating hardpoints allowing them a great deal of coverage. Their main cannon isn't unlike our main MAC guns, but they are able to fire smaller, faster rounds due to eezo. They don't do as much damage, but they are faster to reload. Eezo plays a massive role in their technology and weapon base here. Our plasma based weapons can easily penetrate their kinetic barriers due to the damage from plasma weapons being mainly heat based, which passes right through the barriers. And our larger vessels can put enough kinetic force through a plasma lance blast that it can pretty much gut these ships in a single blow, even with their barriers.

Captured ground weapons show that they use eezo there as well. Their rounds are magnetically launched and are no bigger than a grain of sand. Our soldiers' energy shields can take many blows from these types of weapons before they collapse and the soldier will have to take cover to recharge it. Their collapsible weapons are interesting and application of that tech is being researched as we speak." The doctor finally finished. The Admiral had never let his eyes or mind wander from the doctor and had listened to every word carefully. They clearly had the technological advantage, but they had numbers on their side, which could easily turn the tide of a battle with ease, as seen during the second world war with the Nazi and Soviet militaries.

"Do we know anything about this species as a whole?" he asked.

"Somewhat. We managed to recover a portion of what they call a 'Codex.' Apparently it is supposed to contain the most basic of information about these aliens and their allies…" the admiral stood up quickly at this.

"Allies?! There are more than one species?" he asked quickly.

"Just over a dozen, with three races being the dominant ones over the rest. The species that attacked us are called 'Turians' and are the military arm of the Citadel Council, the alien alliance. The 'Asari' are the eldest and are far more diplomatic when it comes to many matters. They were the first to discover this 'Citadel' and set up the council with the Salarians. The Asari can live around a thousand standard Earth years and can mate with pretty much any other species besides their own to produce offspring. They also appear to be quite similar physically with some obvious differences in anatomy, namely the lack of hair and the blue skin tones. The 'Salarians' are a frog like race that have the brightest minds in Council space. But due to their powerful brains, they can only live for around thirty Earth years. Turians, as well as several other species, can't eat our food due to it being amino-acid based while theirs is dextro-amino acid based. Luckily we have enough captured rations from their ship to feed the prisoners for quite a while."

"What about the other species the Turians are allied with?"

"There are far too many to give in a vocal report, sir, so I have compiled the data to allow you to read up on these species. We have also figured out the standard language used in Council space and are ready with a translation program if you wish to speak with any of the prisoners."

"Alright. I'm going to head planetside to see about speaking with, what looked like at least, the commanding officer of the fleet that attacked us at the relay. Have the program sent down and ready to be used by the time I get down there and send a copy of this report to MCOM," Admiral Hiller ordered.

"Yes, sir," the doctor said before turning around and leaving the Admiral's office. The Admiral just sat there for a moment taking all of this in. There hasn't been talk of battle like this since his grandfather was a pilot in the old United States Air Force and he was fighting against the Locusts when they had attempted their invasion. With a sigh, he pulled up a communication to his X/O.

"Have a shuttle ready to take me planetside within the next few minutes. I'm on my way down to the hangar," he ordered.

"Aye, sir. I'll have a Trojan ready for you by the time you arrive," the X/O stated before cutting the line. Releasing a final sigh, Rear Admiral Hiller stood up to head to the planet.

 **(Line Break)**

Secutor Didinius woke to find himself, once again, shackled to an uncomfortable, metal seat. He knew that breaking the cuffs was pretty much pointless due to the amount of locks he could hear being opened every time one of the aliens walked in to try talking with him. He was amusing himself by counting the number of bolts on the metal door when he heard the many locks opening up, followed by the door. The figure that walked in was dressed in ceremonial garb with striking whites and golds seen throughout the uniform. His skin was a dark brown and had clear age lines running through the Asari-like face.

The fact that these aliens resembled the Asari so much definitely unnerved Secutor but he held back any emotion from popping up on his face. He would have kept that face had the alien not started speaking clear Turian.

"Can you understand me?" it said. Secutor looked straight at it with a shocked face before regaining his composure.

"Yes."

"Good. My name is Rear Admiral Hiller. Now, do you mind explaining to me who you are and why the hell you decided to attack my ships?" Secutor was surprised at the fact that, what appeared to be, a flag officer was asking the questions. Though Secutor kept his mouth shut.

"From what we've been able to gather from your computer systems, as well as the systems from other captured vessels, the only possible reason for you to have ordered your ships to open fire was because we reactivated a dormant Mass Relay, which is illegal according to your laws because of something called the Rachni War. A law we had no idea existed I might add. The only bad contact we have made through the use of Mass Relays, is you Turians so we have had no experience to justify the creation of such a law. And the reasoning that we are an 'ignorant race' is mute when you think about how your Citadel Council didn't enact such a law until after they made a bad first contact. A first contact that your species never took part in. So I ask again, why the hell did you order the attack on my ships?" Admiral Hiller asked a lot more forcefully than he may have realized.

"Because you are an ignorant species to the dangers of the void and you willingly use nuclear weapons in combat which is illegal. Just as illegal as reactivating dormant Mass Relays!" Secutor yelled back in response.

"We have had no knowledge of these laws until after we captured your ships when you ordered the attack on us!" Secutor kept quiet, content with not giving anything to the alien. Hiller just sighed. The silence was obviously a sign that the Turian intended to keep quiet no matter whatever else he brought up.

"Fine. We'll just try to get the information we need from your computer systems, Turian." This current interrogation shocked Secutor. How could this alien know of his species and his language? Unless they had already gotten through the tougher part of the computer's security systems on one of his ships. This would give them access to star charts and fleet deployments. As well as the location of Palaven. His shocked face was not lost on the alien. "I see. You thought it would take us a while to get through to your primary computer core? Yeah, I hate to break it to you but we have already downloaded about half of the computer's files and the rest should be open to us soon so I hope you didn't have anything important in there. It would be a shame if we had a good retaliatory target to take out after your invasion forces fail to take this colony." With that, the door was opened once more for Rear Admiral Hiller. He left behind a very surprised and very worried Turian.

 **(Line Break) Two days after initial contact…**

"What defensive forces have we managed to gather here?" Hiller asked of DeVrill.

"We have managed to field one Yamato class dreadnought, two Bismarck class light dreadnouts, three Lexington light carriers, two Enterprise heavy carriers, five Missouri heavy battleships, seven Iowa standard battleships, twenty-one Steven Hiller battlecruisers, twenty-eight Whitmore heavy cruisers, thirty-seven Casse light cruisers, as well as numerous heavy, standard, and light destroyers and frigates. There are now thirty Pearl-Harbor defensive stations placed all around the planet ready to open fire on command," DeVrill reported.

"Alright. What have we managed to learn about the enemy movements?"

"Turian military forces are still trickling in to build up an invasion fleet. If I had to guess, sir, I'd have to say that this force is being built up in secret with the timely intervals between new ships arriving. They now boast a fleet of five of their Dreadnoughts, thirty-eight Cruisers, fifty-one Destroyers, and seventy Frigates. We also have twenty ships of Destroyer tonnage that appear to be troop transports with their lack of ship-to-ship weapons. Keep in mind, sir, that these are their naval designations not ours. In our terms, they have five Battleships, thirty-eight destroyers, fifty-one frigates, and seventy corvettes or gunboats whichever you wish to call them, twenty of which look to be troop transports. Those troop transports are about frigate tonnage in our naval terms. Those are the ships that are getting the most reinforcements with some of their frigates and destroyers popping up every now and again, though seeing anything larger come up is increasingly sparse."

"What about around the relay? How do our defenses stack up?"

"We have amassed just over eighty Mk-05 tactical stealth mines placed evenly around the relay. They are armed and ready to go should the enemy decide to show up. We have put a rush order on the defensive platforms that are meant to guard this relay and the two that are already here have been moved into orbit over Shanxi."

"What are our plans for the civilians on Shanxi?"

"We have been broadcasting evacuation orders non-stop and most of the civilians are moving out, though we do have quite a few stubborn ones that refuse to leave their homes. It will take several more days to evacuate the ones that WANT to move, several more if we try to force those who wish to stay off of the planet. The majority of the people that are staying are people that wish to have peace with any other alien life out there, similar to those civilians that were killed when the Locusts first used their primary weapons in '96. The colony has pre-built bunkers placed all around the downtown area of the city and each colonial city was built to allow easy fortification if needed from an alien threat. Ground forces have already begun stacking these fortifications up. We have some reports of civilians that are staying actually helping the soldiers out and are even taking up older kinetic firearms for use against any incursion." DeVrill continued. The Admiral nodded his head then began again.

"How about the civilians in the rest of the colonies and back on Earth?" he asked. DeVrill took a moment to check up on his arm-mounted computer system before responding.

"Honestly, sir, the civies are scared. News organizations have been flooding the families of the people lost on the _Disciple_ with questions. We have had a large spike in people trying to join up in the last twenty-four hours. Almost eighty percent higher recruitment rates than just twenty-four hours ago, sir." Again, Hiller nodded his head. He turned his chair to peer out a nearby viewport, giving him quite the view of the planet down below. As well as the current evacuation efforts.

"Keep me updated every few hours, Captain. You are dismissed." With that, Hiller saluted DeVrill whom quickly reciprocated the action before leaving the room. With a sigh, he checked the desk mounted computer to see a great deal of messages from various news agencies trying to get his opinion on the current crisis. He knew they would ask why there weren't more forces being sent to defend the planet and that's because Hiller's higher-ups, the Fleet-Admirals, thought that there should be enough forces to defend other strategically important installations such as construction centers and the different headquarter stations in case the defense of Shanxi fails.

Checking the time, Hiller noted that it was almost 2300 hours (11:00 PM) SET (Standard Earth Time). Shutting down the computer, Hiller began to get ready for some bunk time before the next day began.

 **(Line Break) A Standard Earth Week After Relay Incident…**

Casbius Victus stared out at the 200+ vessels that made up the invasion force. His official orders from Palaven were to quickly and quietly invade what was believed to be an alien homeworld to place another race under the thumb of the Hierarchy and to study the advanced energy technology so that it may be used against threats to both the Citadel Races and the Turian Hierarchy. He wished that he could speak to his son, Adrian, one more time before the invasion, but they were ordered to go silent with absolutely no out-of-system contact with anyone. He had a strange sense of dread filling him as the weapons this new species used were quite concerning, especially the cloaked mines hidden at the end of the relay and the energy based ship-to-ship weapons.

He did not see where this feeling was coming from. From the recon drones that managed to survive past the 314 relay, the enemy forces were quite meager and this appeared to be their first time activating a Mass Relay. Though there is the issue of why they were towing it out of system, but that was just thrown off by them knowing the blast from a relay tended to destroy entire solar systems. At that token though, how would they know this if this was their first time activating one? Noone has ever managed to figure out what runs the Mass Relays and it took years of speculation before that particular theory was branded a reason why noone destroyed the relays during warfare.

With a sigh, Casbius made his way down the corridors of his dreadnought. The long hallways giving him ample opportunities to think about the coming battle. The first part of the strategy was to remove any enemy mines that had been planted near the relay. He had an idea but it would have to wait a few more hours. Next was the complete dominance over the colony in space. Finally, the invasion of the colony itself. This was going to be the most challenging as they have no idea how this enemy acts on the ground. There is also the fact that the Turians will be fighting on the aliens' home soil.

All these things ran through his head by the time he made it to the CIC of his flagship. By then, it was time to engage in the first part of his invasion plan. He turned to the communications station to have his orders issued to the rest of the fleet.

"Have every vessel launch their probes. I want every single one ready to be sent through the relay at my command," he said. The order was quickly spread and every ship that carried probes launched them. He watched as over 2,000 probes came up in formation in front of his fleet. "Send a random amount of probes through the relay in ten second intervals. This will hopefully confuse them as to how many ships we will be bringing along for this invasion." The crews of every ship in his command entered in the data needed to fulfill the orders given. As soon as every ship showed they were ready to launch, Casbius Victus gave the order that would change the galaxy forever.

"Launch the probes."

 _ **Author's Note: To those who may not have seen my update to the Codex, I would like to apologize for the lack of updates. After my last update, I had been hired onto my first job, and I needed a little time to get everything squared away. I would like to thank everyone who left comments and supported the story during this period of silence. Know that I plan to update a bit more frequently now that I have everything going correctly. Now that this chapter is up, it is time to finish up the next chapter for my other story, Stargate: Enterprise, which is a crossover between Stargate and Star Trek: Enterprise. Again, I thank you all for your support and your patience. I hope you enjoy this chapter and leave feedback so that I can see where I might improve upon my own writing or fix any grammatical or lore based errors. By lore based I mean the lore I have set up in my Codex series. Anyway, thank you again for reading this story and I hope you enjoy. - D'terran**_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 03

"We have confirmed detonations of the stealth mines near the relay! All of them have just gone up! I'm detecting probes entering FTL heading in our direction. ETA, ten minutes," a young ensign called out. Admiral Hiller paused for only a moment before he started giving out orders.

"Call General Quarters throughout the fleet. Have every ship move to their designated positions immediately. Give me a count at how many ships are coming through the relay. Get a message down to the colony tell them to stop evac and to try and get everyone into the shelters." Every crewman immediately began moving about the CIC. A comms officer opened a fleetwide channel.

"GENERAL QUARTERS! GENERAL QUARTERS! ALL HANDS MAN YOUR BATTLESTATIONS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL. I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!" A few moments later, that same comms officer spoke out.

"Sir, we still have a destroyer, the USV Pegasus, assisting civilian mining craft near the outer edge of the system!"

"What is wrong with the civie craft?" the admiral asked?

"They had reported issues with their relay FTL systems. The Pegasus was assisting with repairs as the Turians ran into the mines." Hiller rubbed his brow before responding.

"Can we get a message through to them?"

"Yes, sir, but their last report stated that the civilian craft would have their FTL systems online within an hour. That report was twenty minutes ago, sir."

"And we can't spare any ships otherwise the Turians would notice our FTL capabilities. Send them a warning message. Abandon the civie ships and load everyone onto the Pegasus if they have to but the Pegasus needs to move, now." Hiller ordered.

(Line Break) A few moments ago…

"How much longer until we finally have their FTL systems fixed?" Captain Jesse Clayton openly asked her crew. She received a quick response.

"We are actually ahead of schedule right now, ma'am. Apparently some parts just needed a good cleaning, not full replacement." a CIC officer reported.

"Alright then. Prepare to send a message to…" she was interrupted by the officer watching the scanning systems.

"Nuclear detonations detected near the relay! I am receiving no more telemetry from the stealth mines placed in geosynchronous orbit!" All noise on the bridge just stopped. Then people got to work. The tactical officer charged up the tactical capacitors, meaning the weapons and defenses could be brought to full power at a moment's notice. Engineering readied up all secondary systems and had emergency crews on stand-by for damage control. Flight ops was trying to get a status update on the mining vessels. Comms received a communication from Admiral Hiller.

"Ma'am, Rear Admiral Hiller has ordered us to evac the mining vessel crews onto the Pegasus and scuttle the vessels. We are to high tail it out of here, ma'am." Clayton wanted to hit something at that moment.

"Does he know that our Trojans were taken to be used as evacuation craft at Shanxi and that in order to move the civilians we would have to dock with each ship one at a time?" she asked of her comms officer, who picked up the hidden order and sent the message. It took a few moments for a communication to come through.

"Live feed coming in from the Admiral ma'am."

"Put it on my receiver," Clayton ordered and picked up the small phone shaped device off of the console in front of her. "This is Pegasus Actual."

"Pegasus Actual, this is Rising Alpha. SITREP."

"Sir. All Trojans assigned to this ship were allocated for civilian evacuation before we were ordered to assist these mining vessels. In order to evacuate them all, sir, we would have to dock with them each individually and move the crews. It would take ten minutes to dock with each ship then it would take half-an-hour to an hour to evacuate each ship. And I'm sorry but I will not follow an order to abandon the civilians."

"I'm not ordering you to. Now, what is the status of their FTL repairs?"

"It wasn't nearly as bad as we thought. Turns out, it was a case of neglect on part of the engineers on those ships. The drives are cleaned and they should be online within the next half hour. Do we have that time, sir?" Clayton asked.

"I don't know Captain. Alright, here are your orders. Defend the civilians to the best of your ability. I'll try and send what reinforcements we can spare but right now we have an enemy fleet in excess of two hundred Turian vessels heading straight for Shanxi. We also have readings of a small strike force heading in your direction. I don't know how long you have but you best get those ships out of there ASAP. Are your orders clear?" Rear Admiral Hiller asked.

"Yes, sir. Defense of the civilians until they can jump out of combat area. We will get them to safety, sir."

"I know you will, Captain. Rising Alpha out." With that, the Admiral cut off the communication and Captain Clayton started giving out her own orders.

"Alright people. We have a big job to take care of. There is a Turian strike force headed right for us and their target is most likely the civilian ships. We are to defend them until they can get their drives online and jump out of the combat zone. I want all crew to put on their pressure suits. When the enemy arrives, they may knock out our shielding systems early so I want everyone to be ready for intentional decompression to avoid as many casualties as possible. Tactical, I want some of our nukes hidden among some of the debris that's floating about. We might be able to use them as DIY mines. Engineering, I want you to try and find the quickest way to get those civie FTLs online. I don't care if you have to bypass some safety protocols to do it but they need to be out of here quick. Have the civies move their ships as far behind us as they can. Have them place themselves as close to the gas giant as possible. If the Turian FTL is based on Prothean tech, they may not be able to drop out of FTL too close to a large gravitational pull. Move it, people. We have little time." Officers all over the bridge scrambled to follow their Captain's orders.

Half of the ship's nuclear weapons were launched using their RCS thrusters and moved into position for remote detonation. As soon as everyone was in their pressure suits, the ship was automatically decompressed and everyone switched to their personal oxygen supplies, which could last for several hours. A few minutes later, one of the civilian ships reported a green FTL and sped off out of the combat zone. This left two other ships that still couldn't leave the area.

Then they arrived…

"I'm reading Turian vessels off of our port side! Four Turian cruisers, thirteen destroyers, and twenty-two frigates. They are running with barriers up and weapons hot." the Tactical officer reported.

"Ma'am, I'm receiving a message over comms. Running it through the translator. It states, 'Surrender, and prepare to be boarded.'"

"Then this will be a real kick in the pants for them. Target the closest enemy cruiser and fire the Lance!" A green lance of energy swiftly fired out from the Pegasus and struck one of the four cruisers. Said cruiser didn't have a chance as the blast passed straight through their barriers and pierced through the entire ship. It drifted aimlessly for only a moment before detonating, pieces of metal flying in every direction. Several ships were damaged with two frigates actually being destroyed from the close proximity to the explosion.

The Turian fleet was quick to respond with every ship opening fire with their main cannons. The shielding on the Alliance destroyer was quickly draining under the onslaught, but they weren't going to take the fire sitting down. The Pegasus' Onager guns spewed out green blasts of plasma and yellow kinetic railgun rounds into the Turian warships, with many of the smaller frigates and destroyers either being destroyed outright, or just crippled to the point of abandonment. Her MAC gun went to work on the destroyers, with each shot completely gutting the target vessel.

While, as a destroyer, the Pegasus would normally use its powerful engines to avoid enemy fire due to its lighter armor not being able to withstand nearly as many hits as one would expect, but the Pegasus had to protect the unarmed civilian ships and, as such, had to keep itself between them and the Turian warships.

After several minutes of fire being exchanged, one of the Turian destroyers managed to get around the Pegasus and fired off its' Mass Accelerator round into one of the civilian ships. The round passed right through the shielding, as it was meant for dealing with smaller meteorites and not military ordinance, and plowed right through the main reactor. The smaller craft detonated in a bright green show before disappearing. All that was left of it was some small debris floating outward.

Captain Clayton had watched the small craft be destroyed before one of her plasma onagers could get a solid lock on the Turian destroyer. Seeing the innocent civilians be slaughtered so ruthlessly made her blood boil.

"I want that Turian ship absolutely pulverized right now!" shen ordered. Instantly, two of the Pegasus' topside plasma onagers locked onto the Turian ship's flightpath and fired. The first bolt pierced right through the engine assembly, effectively paralyzing the alien ship, and the second bolt passed clean through the center of the ship. Though it was practically out of the fight, the Pegasus continued to fire until there was almost nothing left of the Turian ship before the guns changed targets and began firing again. Another blast from the plasma lance knocked out another Turian cruiser, and the explosion managed to do extensive damage to the cruiser directly next to it, knocking both vessels out of the fight.

The remaining Turian ships gathered around their remaining cruiser to try and protect it from a plasma blast while simultaneously firing off their weapons to try and disable the lance. Meanwhile, more Turian ships were disabled or destroyed by the powerful energy weapons of the alien ship in front of them. Torpedoes couldn't even get close due to the advanced anti-air capabilities the destroyer possessed, so all they could do was fire off their accelerators and their smaller cannons.

The CIC continued to shake as more mass accelerator rounds continued to pummel the ship.

Soon, Captain Clayton heard the statement she hoped she didn't have to hear for at least a little while longer.

"Captain, the shields are failing!" a young officer reported before the shaking got even worse as the enemy rounds were now slamming into the armor of Clayton's ship.

"Order all hands to close helmets! We are depressurising the ship!" As soon as she was sure that her crew had the time to get their helmets on, Clayton ordered the complete depressurization of her ship. It was an odd sensation as now the loud explosions were muffled almost to nonexistence. The only reason Clayton knew her ship was still under fire was the constant shaking from ordinance impacts against the hull. "Have the enemy ships moved into range of the mines?!" she asked through the intercom in her suit.

"Negative, ma'am! But they are slowly making their way toward us and should be within effective range within the next minute." Another explosion rocked the crew around a bit before everyone resettled.

"Captain, both the plasma Lance and the MAC gun have been taken out! Their anti-air guns are still stopping all missiles from hitting their targets," the tactical officer reported.

"Continue to fire off the onagers. What's the status of the civilian ship?" Clayton asked.

"They have reported their FTL is online and are jumping away now," just as that statement finished, Clayton watched the screen as the civilian ship jumped off.

"Alright. Prepare to…" she was cut off as the Turians increased their firepower on the Alliance destroyer. The ship was constantly shaking from the firepower being thrown at it.

"Wormhole drive and missile targeting systems are offline!" An officer reported.

"Reactors are dropping in energy output. Our onagers aren't able to keep up their rate of fire," another called out.

"Multiple hull breaches detected throughout the ship. We have power fluctuations all over," a third stated. Clayton overheard all of these reports and made a decision that she knew was risky.

"Set all weapons to automatic fire. Bypass all safeties and have them fire off as fast as they can. I want everyone to the escape pods. Abandon ship. I'll detonate the nukes to scramble their sensors. Hopefully that'll give the pods enough time to hide away from the enemy ships that might remain." The CIC crew was silent at the orders that were given. Then Clayton's X/O opened a mass intercom to the rest of the crew.

"All hands abandon ship. I repeat, all hands abandon ship." The CIC crew quickly started setting up all of the systems needed to follow the captain's orders before they themselves would attempt to reach the pods. It wasn't too long after the order was given that the first few escape pods were launched. As the sensor operator watched them fly away in an attempt to flee the battle, the operator was shocked to see what happened next.

"Captain, the Turians are firing on the escape pods!" All activity stopped on the deck. Clayton made her way over to the operator's station and watched as the last of the first batch of escape pods were destroyed by intentional Turian cannon fire.

"All hands do not launch escape pods," she screamed into her comm. "The Turians are firing on all pods that launch. Do not launch pods." she then switched to the CIC private channel. "I guess that's that then. Continue to fire off all weapons as fast as they can. I don't care if they melt or blow up, I want them firing as fast as they can. Engineering, this is the CIC, come in."

"This is Adams, go ahead CIC," the Pegasus' chief engineer called back.

"This is the Captain. Override all reactor safeties. I want us running at 110%." The line was quiet for a moment before Adams responded again.

"Roger that, Ma'am. It's been an honor." The line went dead and Clayton ordered a final call to the entirety of the ship.

"Men and women of the Pegasus, this is Captain Jesse Clayton. These Turian creatures have come to us fully expecting to pound us into the dirt. They expected us to simply surrender this ship and the innocent civilians we were meant to protect. But we showed them the error of their ways. We have shown them what happens when you underestimate humanity. The Locusts made the same mistake in 1996 and look what happened to them. Now these Turians think they will be able to board our ship and use the tech they find against the rest of humanity. We can't let that happen. We won't let that happen. Ever. To the next horizon ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain. Out." The call ended. All was quiet except the shaking of the ship and the sparking of conduits.

"To the next horizon, Ma'am." Clayton's X/O repeated with a salute. This verse and action was repeated by everyone on the CIC of the USV Pegasus. Clayton smiled and returned the salute. She then turned to her navigational officer.

"Plot a course directly into the enemy cruiser. Use all excess power to ram us into them."

"Roger that, Ma'am." the officer responded before inputting the last few commands she would ever give into the computer systems. The remaining Turians watched in horror as the bright blue engines of the alien ship suddenly blasted out with a harsh orange light and the ship began accelerating quickly. They could see what its target was and continued to fire everything they had, from Cannons to Torpedoes, in an attempt to knock the ship off course. It was all for nothing as the battered Human ship slammed bow-first into the Turian cruiser. Its engines continues to burn for a few moments before sputtering back to a blue color than dying out entirely. Lights all over the human ship went out as the reactors shut down.

For a brief moment the Turians thought they were finished with the battle. How wrong they were. All of a sudden, the Pegasus blew as the remainder of their unused nuclear warheads detonated simultaneously in a blinding flash of light. The resulting explosion almost completely vaporized the Pegasus and the Turian cruiser she rammed, and severely damaged the smaller Turian ships that were nearby. The survivors of the explosion didn't even have time to breath as the DIY nuclear mines that were being kept from detonating by a constant signal from the Pegasus, went off as the signal was no longer broadcasting. The remainder of the Turian forced were almost completely destroyed with only two of the smaller frigates managing to survive due to their distance from the detonations.

To say the Turians commanding these ships were horrified would be an understatement. A task force of thirty-nine ships went up against a single armed warship and was almost completely wiped out. If this was only a single ship that caused such a large amount of damage, the Turians could only wonder what was happening to the invasion force.

 _ **Author's Note:**_

 _ **I would like to apologize for the lateness of this chapter. Also, I apologize for how bad this chapter might read. A few days after I posted the previous chapter happened, something awful occurred. No one died or anything like that but its something I'd rather not get into. I hope you guys can understand. Thank you for the continued support of my story. It truly helps me out mentally, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you. All of you, thank you. Sincerely, D'terran.**_


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